Whose election is this, anyway?

Our opinion: Rensselaer County should give up its fight to to keep ballot records secret.

In our republic, there is little as fundamental — as sacrosanct, really — as the voting process. To retain the public’s faith, it must be transparent.

So it’s troubling that the Rensselaer County Board of Elections has refused to let the public see the electronic ballot images from last November’s election. These are the digital images taken of the paper ballots that voters fed into machines. Since 2010, in compliance with the Help America Vote Act, three versions of each vote are kept — the paper ballot, which is preserved for two years and only opened if ordered by a judge, and two digital images, the “official” record and a “redundant backup.”

In a Feb. 21 letter to the state Board of Elections, Robert J. Freeman, the Committee on Open Government’s executive director, said those digital versions should be revealed under the state Freedom of Information Law. But Rensselaer County has refused to release them to Carmella Mantello, who lost a race for an at-large Troy City Council seat last fall by 65 votes.

In Putnam County, a voter asking to see the digital ballot images from last year was similarly rebuffed at first, but the county reversed course March 6 after reviewing Mr. Freeman’s opinion.

But Rensselaer County? As of Monday, nothing.

In this Sunshine Week, when we annually consider the importance of open government, Rensselaer County should remember the law requires a “presumption of access,” as Mr. Freeman puts it. It’s time to provide those voting records.

And in the future, why wait to be asked? Put them on your website, where all public information should be.

One Response

This is kind of amazing – it’s the USA, not the USSR – it’s 2014, not 1914 – and you got a political subdivision saying to the people, “No, you can not see the voting instruments. No, absolutely not.” Who’s the fascist that guided this decision? What was the entire County of Rensselar Board of Elections thinking when they “made” this decision? Did they think it would go unchallenged? Did they think they would come out of it looking reasonable? This is indicative of small-minded people being involved in the decision making…